BUNGLING police and solicitors are wasting millions of pounds by mishandling almost one in six cases to come before West Midland magistrates, a report said.

BUNGLING police and solicitors are wasting millions of pounds by mishandling almost one in six cases to come before West Midland magistrates, a report said.

The scale of the problem in the region was revealed in a damning report from an influential Commons watchdog.

Thousands of cases are being unnecessarily delayed because of prosecution errors, such as losing files or not producing key evidence in time.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said the scale of the problem was "alarming".

A report published by the committee said 16 per cent of trials in West Midland courts were delayed or abandoned entirely.

The most common reason for cancelled trials was that the defendant pleaded guilty on the day.

Of the rest, 38 per cent did not go ahead because the prosecution case was not ready, or the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges on the day.

There were 15 per cent of trials in the West Mercia Police Authority area, 12 per cent in Staffordshire and ten per cent in Warwickshire. Across England as a whole, 14 per cent of trials were delayed or abandoned.

The cost of the delays across the country was estimated at #173 million.

Tory Sir Edward Leigh, the committee's chairman, said: "The CPS and the police are jointly responsible for an alarming number of delayed and ineffective trials.

"This is not only a waste of taxpayers' money - some #55 million a year - but also an affront to society's expectation that the guilty be swiftly brought to justice."